Refrigerator.



"No. 718,628. PATENTED JAN. 20, 1903 W. A. HULIN.

REFRIGERATOR.

APPLIOLTIOF FILED SEPT. 19, 1902.

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WITNESSES: INVENTOR eat/(W A41 ATTORNEYS,-

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM A. HULIN, OF SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK.

REFRIGERATOR.

. SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 718,628, dated January 20, 1903.

Application filed September 19,1902. Serial No. 123,960. (N0 odel-l To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. HULIN, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Saratoga Springs, Saratoga county, New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerators, of which the following is a specification.

My'invention relates to refrigerators for keeping goods at a low temperature; and the object of my invention is to so construct a refrigerator as to obtain such a circulation of air therein that the chamber for the storage of the goods will be kept dry and odorless and at a low and uniform temperature with the consumption of the least amount of ice. I attain this object by means of the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical cross-section through the center of my refrigerator at X X, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through the center of the same at Y Y,-Fig. 1.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout both "iews.

A represents the frame or casing of the refrigerator, which may be constructed in the usual Way and of any desired material.

Bis the ice-chamber for holding the ice and is provided with a door D for placing the ice therein.

O is the storage-chamber for storing the goods desired to be kept in the refrigerator, which may be placed therein through the door E.

The ice in the ice-chamber rests upon a floor of cleats F F, made of any desired material, not laid close together, but leaving spaces between the cleats, making an open floor for the ice to rest upon, so as to allow the cold air from the ice, as well as the water formed by the melting of the ice,to pass freely downward on the drip-boards H H and I. The drip-boards H H extend from near the sides of the storage-chamber O and slope toward the center, but do not come together at the center, leaving a space preferably nearly the width of the drip-board I. The drip-board I extends along the center of the chamber, its edges turned upward and extending beyond the edges of the drip-boards H H, so as to catch the water therefrom, and is so constructed that the water from the ice will run down from the drip-boards H H on the drip-board I and from the dripboard I into the Waste-water pipe,(n0t shown in the drawings,) which carries it outside of the refrigerator in the usual manner.

A space is left between the top of the dripboard I and the bottoms of the drip-boards H H. Also the drip-boards H H do not extend close against the back side of the chamber, a space being left for cold air to descend.

Extending lengthwise along each side and the rear of the chambers, B and O are a series of horizontal slats J J. These slats incline laterally from the sides and rear of the chambers downward toward the center, and air-spaces are left between the frame or sides of the refrigerator and the slats J J. The

slats J J form three sides of the chamber 0..

Spaces are also left between the sides of the drip-boards H H and the slats J J.

K K are protecting-strips or lattice-work made in any desirable way to protect the slats J J about the ice-chamber from contact with the ice and to keep the ice clear from said slats and at the same time to allow the air free access to the ice ongall sides. This construction allows the cold air from the ice to descend freely through the cleated bottom F F of the ice-chamber B into the storagechamber 0, around three sides of the dripboards H H, and principally between the dripboards H H and I by the several clear passages from the ice-chamber B to the storagechamber 0.

The warm air in the chamber 0 rising upward will pass between the slats J J into the clear space between the slats J J and the sides of the refrigerator to the top over the icechamber B, where it will come in contact with the ice and be cooled. Constructed in this manner there will be a rapid circulation of air. The cold air descending will not meet or mingle with the warm air arising, for the reason that the cold air will descend directly into the chamber 0 through the openings indicated, and the warm air will be forced through the spaces between the inclined slats J J to the exterior spaces and a continuous circulation thus insured.

The ice in the ice-chamber is exposed upon all sides, top, and bottom, thereby giving out all the cold air possible, and the slats J J being of such a width that they overlap each other slightly and being at an acute angle to the sides it is not possible for the cold air descending from the ice-chamber B to the storage-chamber C to intermingle with the warm air rising, and the warm air rising forms a draft and draws in all the warm air from the storagechamber. At the same time all odors from substances in the storage-chamber are rapidly taken up by the warm air and forced upward into the ice-chamber B, Where they come in contact with the ice and are absorbed and carried away with the waste water from the melting ice, so as to allow no taint or taste from the odor of one substance being commu nicated to another. At the same time the circulation being so rapid and the cold air and warm air not coming in contact in the storage-chamber leaves the storage-chamber free from moisture and with a very dry and even temperature.

I also provide my refrigerator with an additional ice-chamber L, which is made at the back of the other ice-chamber B and storagechamberC. The ice-chamber Lis lined with copper or other suitable material and is constructed with a large chamber L, which extends a limited distance from the top of the refrigerator and is provided with one or more projections or tubes M, extending from the chamber L to near the bottom of the refrigerator, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. Access to this chamber is had by means of the door N in the top of the refrigerator near the back side. Into this chamber may be placed cracked or shaved ice, to which may be added salt, if desired to produce a very low temperature. The cold air from this chamber enters the storage-chamber through the slats J J at the back of the ice-chamber B and the storage-chamber C, and the warm air returning will reach the ice through the space over the top of the chamber L, as shown. By the use of ice and salt in this chamber a very low temperature may be maintained much below freezing-point.

By the use of my refrigerator constructed as here shown and described a lower temperature may be maintained with less ice than with any refrigerator now known. Besides this the air in the storage-chamber is extremely dry, uniform, and odorless.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A refrigerator constructed with two icechambers, one directly over the storagechamber having an open floor between said ice-chamber and the storage-chamber adapted to allow the cold air and water from the ice to pass freely through said floor, and having three drip-boards under said floor and above said storage-chamber, two of which incline laterally, one from each side, toward the center, leaving an open space in the center between them for their length, and the third drip-board extending under said open space with its edges extending beyond the outer edges of said space, but not in contact with the other two drip-boards, and sloping from one end to the other and arranged and adapted to collect the water from the other boards and conduct it to the waste-pipe, and having a series of laterally-inclined horizontal slats about two or more sides of said storage-chamber and extending upward into the said ice-chamber, said slats sloping inwardly toward the center of said chamber leaving a clear space between each slat and the one next adjoining it, and leaving clear air-spaces between each series of slats and the next adjoining side of the refrigerator, the other icechamber being in the rear of the refrigerator behind said storage-chamber extending from near the top to near the bottom of the refrigerator and being separated from the storagechamber by one of the aforesaid series of slats, all substantially as described and for the purposes set forth.

Signed at Saratoga Springs, New York, this 12th day of September, 1902.

WILLIAM A. IIULIN.

\Vitnesses:

JOHN L. HENNING, WALTER H. OOGAN. 

